


Snake in the Grass

by Crypterion_Moon



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Criminal Masterminds, Dick Grayson is a Talon, Earth-3, M/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:01:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21638530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crypterion_Moon/pseuds/Crypterion_Moon
Summary: The mission is simple, sabotage Drake industries, advisor at a time and while the owner is at his lowest point, kill him and what was once a powerful company would belong to Thomas Wayne as his property. That's just how business works in this world. Thomas just has a few assets to help accelerate his progress, namely, his loyal Talon.But the outcome is quite different from what Richard expected when he initially believed.
Relationships: Tim Drake/Dick Grayson
Comments: 3
Kudos: 80
Collections: Robin Christmas Exchange 2019





	Snake in the Grass

**Author's Note:**

  * For [salazarastark (niewanyin)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/niewanyin/gifts).



Richard knew as he landed softly on the lush carpet that Thomas was well aware of him. The man was the one who taught him everything after all, how to see and not be seen, hear what no one else could hear, and kill without a sound, without mercy. Though he faced away from Richard, when he spoke, it was directly to the assassin.

“I believe it went well, Talon?”

Richard rose to his feet, “Yes, our partner has been terminated, the late Mr. Pilinsk’s son with be taking over the business very soon.”

“Good, he’ll be easier to work than his stubborn father, but we’re not done yet,” Thomas turned and tossed the files he’d been reading on the desk in front of Richard, “We have a rival intent on stealing our property.”

-Richard picked up one file with a clawed hand, leafing through the pages detailing his next target. Sam Roan, a steadily rising businessman and owner of Drake industries. Once owned by the Drakes before their ‘accident’. The company was already partnered with or owned many smaller assets which all contributed greatly to their rise in the ranks of the wealthy businesses. However, Mr. Roan must not have done his homework, to have even attempted to snatch one of the Wayne Foundation’s assets, or he had balls of steel.   
However much Thomas would have loved to see them burn to the ground, straight termination would put too much at risk here. Drake industries at one point depended on their partnerships and assets to rise, now they in turn depended on Drake industries for support. Due to their ingenuity and cunning, they were in the running for some of the wealthiest enterprises. Thomas would really prefer not to lose such valuable resources, salvaging what he could even benefit the Wayne foundation. 

“We won’t get rid of him yet, we can still have fun.” A deadly grin spread across Thomas’ face as ideas began to take form.

“Talon, I want you to find and kill each and everyone of the Drake Industries advisors, you’ll find their details in the document, but don’t kill them all in one night, I want to watch as their world unravels around them.”

“Understood.” The Talon said and left without another word. Thomas turned back towards the window, overlooking the city with nefarious smile. 

“Let’s see what you can do, once there’s no one else to turn to.”

Each day, news spread of the brutal murders, first: Drake Industries Marketing Manager, Kelly Waer was found in her home, throat slit. No witnesses.  
Then Branch Advisor Michael Lewis was found in his car or what was left of his car...and him. A petrol leak they said.  
Their head finance tried to leave the company, in the hopes of avoiding his fate. But he was met only with death by electrocution, an accident it was called, but by now, they all knew better. The string of murders and mysterious deaths and no one could be fooled. Drake officials were being targeted.  
One by one they fell to an unknown killer, sliced and diced, suffocated, drowned in their own pool, you name it. Some had handed in their resignations but not officially before it was their turn. Sam was losing his mind and control of the company and Thomas revelled in every panicked moment the man allowed himself to display on the camera. He so loved watching his enemies crumbling.  
Once the last advisor was dead, it was unfortunately time for them to end the game.  
A shame, this was one of his favorite past times.

Talon slipped into the building unnoticed, the guards as useless as always at their job, if he was the late security manager, he’d have made sure to hire people actually good at their jobs, but perhaps he was just that good. He slipped into the main office where Mr. Roan and another group of guards were, the young man in the midst of an angry breakdown as the news of the last of his department was crumbling in confusion.

“Good evening, Mr. Roan.”

Sam looked up from his desk in alarm and instantly, the room descended into chaos as the guards began to fire at wherever the sound of Talon’s voice came from. Of course, by then he had scaled to the other end of the ceiling, watching as an opportunity passed. He landed soundlessly behind a guard, slitting his throat effortlessly. The rest turned only just in time to see his corpse fall, bleeding out all over the laminated flooring.

“Shit! Did you see him?”

“N-no, I didn’t sir, I think- AAAarrgh!”

The next one went down with a blade pierced through his lungs, his screams making for perfect distractions as they all turned their attention to him now. A perfect moment for Talon to launch several daggers at once into their necks. The last few fired carelessly, forcing Sam to take cover.   
They were easy to deal with. Break one’s neck, stab another in the heart, then another straight through the eye.  
Until there was not one left.  
Now. It was just Sam.

“As I was saying, good evening,” Talon said smoothly.

“What do you want? I can give it to you! Money? Property? The Tech? I can give you anything, just leave me alone!”

“I’m afraid, Mr. Roan, there is nothing I want, rather, my master would like something from you.”

“What? What?? Please tell me, I can make him a deal.”

Talon kicked the desk out of the way, shattering the wood as if it was nothing, leaving Sam cowering backwards. But no amount of backstepping could escape Talon as he grasped the man now pissing himself by the throat.

“You already have in your dealings with his property, and the price is your life,” Talon said finally, driving his blade through the cowards heart, he could almost hear the grin on the other end of the comm line as Thomas listened to the screaming idiot. He let the body crumple into a bloody heap on the floor. His work was done, here, now to return and report back to his master. Only, tonight, fate had other plans.

Suddenly, his body felt sluggish, like lead coursing through his veins, his movements slowed until they had froze in mid action, or rather, he was now frozen completely. The ground he stood on was no steel tile but a slab of nitrogen emitting material that had activated and completely covered most of Richard’s body. A normal person would be dead but his Talon physiology only meant he was immobilized.   
A young man stood, clearly still alive and somehow, causing this. He said nothing as he walked towards Talon, reaching behind his hood. It didn’t help that Thomas was talking still, and the boy of what must be seventeen found the comm and shut it off.  
“There, better, I wouldn’t like Mr. Wayne to be snooping in on us.”

“You, you’re...the secretary,” Talon forced out.

“That’s what I would like you to think, secretaries tend to survive longer than their bosses right? Well, I’m glad this worked but it’s only a once off. Now, what am I to do with you?”

As he stood pondering with a smirk on his face, Richard could see every feature clearly, young, very young, possibly just out of his teenage years, but the face on him held none of the boyish foolishness one might expect. Experienced, maturity in his startling blue eyes and by far the most cunning for his age. Dangerous. A gnawing in the back of his mind said this was highly familiar, something his master would immediately recognize.  
There was a family whose reputation was known for being brutally effective and ruthless in their plots, hidden behind many faces and walls until it was too late and they loomed over their opponents like a predator, coiled to strike.  
Wayne liked to dress up as the Owlman and take his enemies out personally in this persona, or send his Talon out. For him violence and force was the answer.  
But the Drakes, ruin and reputation were their weapons. Pull the rug from under the target and they come crashing down, they higher their pedestal, the harder they fall. Destroy one’s reputation and despair and isolation followed. Many of their adversaries succumbed eventually, one way or another. But they were always patient, frighteningly patient.

“You...are...Drake...” Richard only managed to utter in his state.

The boy merely smiled, “Richard Grayson, originally son of Mary and John Grayson, also known as the ‘Flying Graysons’. You were orphaned when they both died when their line snapped, a result of tampering from what you suspect to be Crime lord Zucco’s doing. Thomas Wayne took you in and trained you, turned you into Talon. Your first kill was Zucco himself.”

Then he stopped, his index tapped lightly against his bottom lip, “He told you, you would have your revenge, didn’t he?”

If he wasn’t already frozen, Richard would have been stock still at those words. The promise given by his master, uttered between them, within the darkness of the cave. No one should know.  
“He told you, he would show you how to make them suffer, all you had to do was obey his every command.”

“How...”

“Do I know? I don’t sit idly, I’ve been studying you both for a long time now. And the Syndicate. Dangerous, yes, but certainly not difficult to get under your noses since you are all so busy on your high thrones. The contingencies Mr. Wayne gathered were very informative, I must say, it will be useful in future.”

This boy had managed to get in and obtain some of the most protected of Owlman’s data. Those contingencies were there in case the others in the Syndicate decided to turn against him or each other, which was a solid sixty-seven percent chance. Now it, their fates, lives, were in the hands of this young man, a ghost as far as the world was concerned.

“You…live?”

“I do, I am the last remaining Drake after my parents were, ‘disposed of’ by your master. They were careless, over-confident, a Drake should never show his face until the right moment and they violated that.”

Something flashed in those blue eyes for a moment before they faded to their coolness again, “They had it coming, I’m not pleased with it but I could see their days were numbered when they indulged in the light. I learned very quickly that a snake doesn’t belong in the light.”

“Which begs the question, now that you know I live, I should really get rid of you,” the boy reached up and caressed the frozen Talon’s cheek, cold as stone but those deep blue eyes still fixed on him, “but at the same time, it would be such a waste.”

Drake smirked again, “I wonder, do you really know who killed your parents?” A chill crawled up his spine.

“What…?”

“That night, someone paid Zucco to tamper with the line, pin the blame on him. Someone who had planned it all just to get you.”

“No...”

The boy reached up higher, his lips and breath warm again his ear, “Yes, Richard, I know who’s responsible, and you’ve been by his side all this time.”

“NO!” the roar came from something within, an emotion he though dead welled up inside and spilled over, willing him to move against his straining limbs. Damaging him in the process. He crumpled on the ground after taking only one step forward.   
An all too innocent chuckle reverberated in his ears as the surviving Drake stepped around, deactivating the trap. He bent down low, whispering into Richard’s ear as he lay incapacitated still.

“I can make you an offer, if you want your revenge, speak of this to no one. You fulfilled your mission, and Wayne will claim Drake as one of his own assets, things will resume as normal and when you are ready,” those warm soft lips, full of venom and sweetness, pressed a soft kiss to his cold temple, “come to me and we can start.”

The boy’s presence left him and when he could finally move, he fled back to the manor. He had almost given his discovery in his report, but those sweet, dark promises had dug into his mind and he left the whole encounter out, excusing the loss of communication as a set back from hired muscle with powers.  
The documents on the Drakes were still in his possession, he realized as he returned to his chambers within the cave, and before he returned to stasis, he allowed himself this small curiosity and read through it once more. Janet and Jack, and their son were assumed dead when their manor burned to the ground on New Years Eve. Their son, Timothy Jackson Drake was only ten at the time and the event was marked as a tragedy.

Richard stared at a rather blurry photo of a young boy being led along on the street, looking back just in time for the photographer to capture the bluest eyes he’d ever seen. A beautiful boy, with raven hair and the terrible intelligence that lay behind his doll like expression. A snake that wore the skin of a rabbit. The danger that lurked in his sweet words was like honey-flavored poison. And the more he thought about it, the more Richard could feel himself craving it.

“Timothy.” he whispered, tasting the obsession that was slowly growing within, “Timothy Drake.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is tame, I know, but I've had very little time with this and I don't really know how to handle this dynamic, so I wrote whatever I could think of which was Talon Dick and Mastermind Tim


End file.
